ID70: The impact of migration for rural and mountainous wellbeing

Abstract ID 490 | Date: 2022-09-13 10:13 – 10:26 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room SR1 |

Machold, Ingrid; Bauchinger, Lisa; Dax, Thomas

Despite the predominant movements of in-migrants towards agglomerations over the last three decades the number of international migrants to remote and particularly mountain areas has steadily increased throughout European mountain regions. As a general phenomenon this has been addressed as „new immigration destinations” that extend to various, previously neglected areas. As such, this migration type might be perceived as an emerging driver for spatial cohesion aspects. However, migration does not only play a key role in stabilising and reversing adverse demographic trends in remote locations, but also holds great potential for acknowledging social diversity, cultural exchange and social innovation.

This presentation synthesizes findings from one of the case studies of the H2020 MATILDE research project, i.e. the study area of Vorarlberg in Austria. Situated in the central part of the Alps this region is a place of encounter of different population movements since long. In the case study, the current processes of social integration of refugees are analysed within three local remote municipalities of different size and social characteristics. Based on the conceptual reflection of the work by Ager and Strang (2008) the paper focuses on the effects of newcomers on social cohesion and local development. These are explored for various areas of integration (housing, employment, education, health), but also extend to issues of recognition of personal contributions and esteem.

The paper analyses the potential of various activities developed by enterprises, communities and local social groups to nurture effective social integration processes at local level. Based on qualitative interviews and focus groups with 35 local actors (including 5 small and medium enterprises, local stakeholders and volunteers) and interviews with 25 refugees involving „social mapping” activities. This becomes instructive for deriving a set of obstacles and good practice examples of integration processes in remote mountain contexts. It appears particularly important to tackle polarization trends in society, to engage in constructing „social bridges”, to enhance practical action and learning of both migrants and locals, and to overcome administrative burden often attached to integration processes of refugees.

Abstract ID 921 | Date: 2022-09-13 10:39 – 10:52 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room SR1 |

Kumar, Saurav; Sati, Vishwambhar Prasad

Throughout history, out-migration has significantly impacted the Garhwal Himalaya. This is a common phenomenon, and people have used it to diversify their risk and livelihood options. This paper evaluates the extent of out-migration in the Garhwal Himalaya and examines the different types, patterns, reasons, and implications of out-migration. It identifies the importance of age, gender, education, caste, and altitude in influencing out-migration. This study was conducted by gathering data from the 12 villages of the Garhwal Himalaya. A total of 560 households were surveyed from the villages, covering 100% sample from each village. The authors constructed a structured questionnaire and asked the heads of each surveyed household about the types of migration they practice, the locations of migration, the reasons for migration, and the consequences of such migration. In addition, the authors asked about migrants’ age, sex, caste, education, income, and occupation. The study reveals that out-migration in the Garhwal Himalaya has become a major problem since it has led to many socio-economic problems in the region. And if it is not addressed at its earliest, a large number of villages will become depopulated. Additionally, this study suggests some policy measures to curb out-migration from the Garhwal Himalaya.

Abstract ID 156 | Date: 2022-09-13 10:52 – 11:05 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room SR1 |

Perlik, Manfred

The urbanisation of the mountains accelerated in the 1990s. Globalisation has been accompanied by migration due to poverty and violence as well as selective immigration for leisure and housing, mostly in the form of multilocality. In Europe, regional impoverishment scenarios have not consistently come true; even under liberal-productivist economic regimes, peripheral regions have not been abandoned by the public sector. However, in many peripheries there is a lack of confidence in prosperous development, as the social upheavals e.g. in Eastern Germany, Eastern Europe or Northern England (Brexit majority) show. This is not surprising, as the logic of agglomeration advantages and regional supply-oriented competitive strategies has so far remained unbroken in its increasing.

With the Covid crisis, hope has spread that agglomeration advantages will subside, combined with a more solidarity-based economy and society. Initial changes in social practices were hopeful. The backlash came quickly, initiated by ultra-liberal economists, followed by libertarian anthroposophists. Towards the end of the fourth covid wave, the situation is back to what it was before the crisis: mountain areas are becoming places of consumption for metropolitan middle class. people. With an additional, not entirely new function: as a dispositive of security, as in the times of the plague epidemic. This will be showed at the example of lifestyle mobility in the Turkish Taurus mountains, the multilocal covid strategies of “multi-house families” in France and the extension of alpine value chains in the platform economy.

So nothing new? The situation is not that clear-cut. For the first time, several crises of insecurity are coming together: covid, climate and chains of supply. And all of them are causally linked each with each other. There is a possibility that these single crises mutually will rock up to such an extent that the advantages of metropolitan agglomeration will diminish considerably. This argues for an integral joint development of the metropolitan regions and their hinterlands and a rejection of separatist mountain strategies.

Abstract ID 144 | Date: 2022-09-13 11:05 – 11:18 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room SR1 |

Graf, Flurina

The aims of this presentation are to show the importance of mobility for mountain areas, the different forms of multilocality practiced in touristic and rural-peripheral areas and the mostly unrecognised potential of migrants for social innovation and regional development at the example of the Grisons in Switzerland.

Mountain areas are generally associated with periphery, which in turn is often linked to negative connotations such as backwardness and traditionalism. But periphery is a multidimensional phenomenon, spatially located between different centres. Therefore, mobility is of great importance to mountain areas, both for touristic and rural regions. The out-migration of young people to urban areas and their return, seasonal flows of workers and tourists, second home owners using their property for various purposes, and ex-urban residents looking for a calm rural life lead to a continual state of flux of ideas and people.

In general, the multilocal phenomenon differs in touristic and rural-peripheral areas in the Alps.

a)     Life in the touristic area is strongly shaped by seasonal rhythm. Therefore, multilocal living is mostly organized in seasonal blocks and mainly serves to compensate for things lacking in a certain place. Mobility is reinforced by a low level of social and emotional mooring due to the fluid and expensive life in touristic regions. As a consequence, even second-generation migrants often feel little emotional attachment but simultaneously seem to have a broader scope of action, e.g. in educational commuting.

b)     In rural-peripheral areas, multilocal living takes place in shorter rhythm as e.g. weekly commuting for the purpose of education, work and leisure. The use of second homes is mostly dynamic and hybrid, depending on current needs (leisure, work, as a place to get emotional and territorial distance in personal crisis). At the same time, peripheral areas, as located between centres, become centrally located and therefore an attractive place to live, offering everything that constitutes Enzensberger’s notion of luxury: time, attention, space, peace, nature, and security (ibid. 1997).

Migrants bring new concepts, perceptions of space and mobility into the mountain areas, often with a high propensity to assume risks and create something new. Some of them combine their multilocal living with a great interest in their place of living in the alps and great motivation to participate in the local social life. Multilocality does not exclude local commitment and mooring. Migrants can therefore be seen as excellent actors of social innovations.

Abstract ID 292 | Date: 2022-09-13 11:18 – 11:31 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room SR1 |

Urso, Karen

The present study intends to analyze the territorial revitalization and social innovation paths that are triggered in rural areas by virtue of the foreign presence. Rural areas, starting in the second half of the twentieth century, have experienced a process of disintegration, that has led them to a condition of marginalization and isolation. In recent decades, as an effect of the capitalist restructuring processes of the agri-food system and of the introduction of spatial dispersal policies, an increasing number of economic migrants and forced migrants (refugees and asylum seekers) settled in rural areas. The arrival of “unexpected groups to unexpected places” (Camarero and Oliva 2016: 93) in the so-called New Immigrant Destinations (McAreavey, 2017) has changed the composition of rural areas; if on the one hand it is possible to find elements of dynamism in the terms of rural regeneration, on the other hand the settlement of new population appears problematic, due to the resistance processes posed by local communities and the lack of social infrastructures (Corrado and D’Agostino, 2018).

The aim of this paper is to investigate how the arrival of new population has triggered territorial revitalization processes, analyzing the experience of the reception project for refugees and asylum seekers – coordinated by the Italian Ministry of Interior (Sistema di Protezione per Richiedenti Asilo e Rifugiati – SPRAR) – operating in Camini (Reggio Calabria), a disadvantaged area in Southern Italy. The joint mobilisation of public initiative and local action has contributed to the transformation of rural areas, the reversal of demographic trends, the reactivation of the local economy, the construction of new networks and, more generally, to an important phase of social and political change. The positive outcomes in terms of social, demographic and economic transformation, enable us to read this experience as a process of rural social innovation (IS). The SI is understood as a tripolar process oriented towards the satisfaction of needs, the reconfiguration of social relations and collective participation (Moulaert et al. 2013). Migrants and natives therefore identify themselves as agents of innovation in a system of co-production and co-governance within rural spaces which, on the one hand represent spaces of depopulation, degradation and isolation, on the other are spaces of autonomy, rural regeneration and social innovation.

The research methodology adopted refers to the review of existing literature – academic and gray -, and to the conduct of semi-structured interviews with privileged stakeholders.

Abstract ID 176 | Date: 2022-09-13 11:31 – 11:44 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room SR1 |

Membretti, Andrea (1); Dax, Thomas (2); Krasteva, Anna (3); Machold, Ingrid (2)

Despite the long-lasting processes of territorial marginalization and socio-economic exclusion that hit mountainous regions particularly hard, it seems that mountainous remote places in Europe are experiencing an unprecedented momentum (Membretti, Dax and Krasteva, 2022). Within the framework of climate change and diversified population movements (internal and international migration, part-time living, smart-workers, amenity dwellers, etc.), the recent effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of social distancing, different perceptions and uses of space are contributing to a re-thematization of remoteness in spatial and socio-cultural terms. An enhanced value – especially expressed by metropolitan populations – is beginning to be attributed to remoteness as a ‘natural’ space with low population density, and spaces far from overcrowded and unsafe urban areas. At the same time, ongoing urbanization and agglomeration trends are accentuating processes of spatial and cultural ‘remotisation‘ (Membretti 2021) with respect to many mountain regions, like the Alps: on one hand, this phenomenon tends to coincide with increasing social exclusion, territorial inequality, and widespread resentment expressed by the inhabitants of the ‘places that do not matter’ against the elites of ‘central places’. On the other hand, mountainous remote places show a huge potential in terms of innovation, creativity, and attractiveness, that other territories, perceived as peripheral, usually do not possess. This is because they constitute – at least in urban imaginaries – a category different from that of ‘periphery’, representing an alterity, strongly connected to a potential of counter-specification (Ardener, 2012). Therefore, it seems that conditions are being created for a new and creative dialectic between urban and mountain dimensions (e.g., within a “metro-montane” approach; Barbera and De Rossi, 2021), while new conflicts may arise around different visions of remoteness and access/use/exploitation of remote places and resources. Based on the empirical data collected in the H2020 MATILDE project and on the positions expressed in the MATILDE Manifesto (“The Renaissance of Remote Places”, 2022), this presentation will focus on the new role that Europe’s mountainous remote areas can play for the future of the continent, offering an unexpected and unique occasion to restore places and spaces to the people, putting territorial equity at the very core of ‘next generation Europe’.